Crowd noise could be a factor for UCF Saturday

November 5, 2009

UCF Coach George O'Leary is relying on jet engines to prepare his team for the wall of sound it will face at Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

The Knights (5-3, 3-2 Conference USA) play at No. 2 Texas (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) Saturday. The Longhorns have been averaging 101,172 fans per game this season. If the trend continues, it will be the third-largest crowd UCF has ever faced. UCF played before 103,029 fans at Penn State in 2002 and 101,715 against the Nittany Lions in 2004.

O'Leary said after the Knights' game plan was installed Tuesday, his staff would set up speakers to play steady jet engine noise throughout practice Wednesday and today.

OL Abré Leggins, a junior transfer who previously played at Michigan State, has played in massive venues including Ohio State's home turf.

"It's awesome to play in front of a crowd that big, but I'm pretty sure we're going to have to hold hands on the offensive line so that we know what to do," he said.

Quick hits

•Senior QB Brett Hodges is sore from the punishing hits he took against Marshall, but he did practice this week and is expected to start at Texas Saturday.

•UCF leads the country in fourth-down conversions, succeeding on seven out of eight attempts this season.

•The Longhorns lead the nation in consecutive weeks ranked in The Associated Press Top 25 poll. Texas has been ranked in the poll every week since Oct. 15, 2000.